Etymology

gimp

G2I1M3P3

Today it means: A narrow ornamental fabric or braid of silk, wool, or cotton, often stiffened with metallic wire or coarse cord running through it, used as trimming for dresses, curtains, furniture, etc. Also guimpe. Full definition →

Dutch gimp ← French guimpe ← Old French guimpre
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gimp · noun, verb1

  1. Old French · derived fromguimpre
  2. French · borrowed fromguimpe
  3. Dutch · borrowed fromgimp
  4. English todaygimp

Attested since about 1660, perhaps from Dutch gimp or French guimpe, and likely from Old French guimpre, a variant of guipure, a kind of trimming. The regional sense of "gumption" is attested since about 1905, and may have developed due to the reinforced nature of gimp cord, or possibly the influence of the words gumption and gumph.

gimp · noun, verb2

Attested in US slang since the 1920s. Maybe influenced by, or cognate with limp.

gimp · adjective3

Scots. Alternative form of jimp. Compare Welsh gwymp (“fair, neat, comely”).

Words from the same roots

Frenchguimpe all →

guimpe

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.